Toyota Sequoia Limited 4x4

Another mega-SUV for the elite media to fear and loathe.

For the past several years the editors of the New York Times have been suffering major anxiety palpitations over the threat to the populace posed by pavement-pulverizing, gasoline-swilling, compact-crushing, rollover-prone sport-utility vehicles. The rest of the media elite have followed the lead of the frumps at the Times, waxing hysterical over the obvious reality that tall, heavy vehicles roll over more easily and stop less efficiently than their lower, lighter counterparts. Then came the Ford/Firestone debacle, which sent television reporters and editorialists everywhere into swoons of terror, identifying the scourge of the SUVs as the next Black Plague to envelop civilization.

Manufacturers from the start have responded to these tocsins with bigger and bigger SUVs -- machines with their own ZIP Codes, packing V-8 and V-10 engines with enough power and torque to electrify small Third World countries.

Here came the fleets of Excursions, Escalades, Yukons, Yukon XLs, and Durangos, all with gonzo motors and sufficiently low fuel mileage to qualify for eternal damnation from Ozone Al Gore and the Friends of the Earth. Now Toyota is in the act. Yes, the same Toyota whose Priuses, Echos, and Corollas are among the lightest, most fuel-efficient vehicles in the world. But Japan's largest automobile manufacturer is a profit-making business, not a division of the Sierra Club, and after first attacking the domestic full-size-pickup market with its new Tundra last year, it was only a matter of time (measured in months) before that platform would be modified into what is charitably called the "full-size" SUV class (or what Lane Bryant would call in women's fashions "full-figured").

Although the Sequoia falls a bit short of the outre weight and size standards set by Ford's Excursion and GM's Suburban, it is one big Namu, offering eight leather-bound seats in a neatly styled if unremarkable package. Offered in two- and four-wheel-drive versions (priced from $31,295 and topping out at $44,000 for our loaded four-wheel-drive test vehicle), the Sequoia is substantially cheaper and slightly more capacious than the Toyota Land Cruiser and the Lexus LX470, both of which are powered by the same 4.7-liter DOHC V-8 developed for the Tundra pickup, tuned for 240 hp here. This puts the Sequoia, pricewise, in direct competition with the Chevy Tahoe, GMC Yukon, and Ford Expedition, while offering world-class Toyota fabrication and reliability. The only clue that its lineage can be traced to the Tundra, except for its engine, is the presence of the four-speed automatic shift lever on the steering column, as opposed to a console mount found in most upscale SUVs.

As expected, its road manners are prim and proper, in the narrow context of sport-utilities. (Note: With the possible exception of the BMW X5, there isn't an SUV built that could be described as possessing decent handling.) Our Sequoia, weighing in at 5251 pounds and standing two inches more than six feet tall, and with 10.6 inches of ground clearance, wobbled around the skidpad generating 0.71 g of cornering force. This is not a bad number for an SUV of this size, but the Sequoia cannot be confused with a modern sedan.